Often times politicians accept compliments with open arms. But sometimes, compliments handed out are less than ideal.

In opening day speeches from leadership Wednesday, both Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino and Senate President Morgan Carroll offered compliments to their Republican colleagues who are running for higher office this year.

“Amy Stephens, an advocate on healthcare issues who had the political courage to work across the aisle to create Colorado’s healthcare exchange,” Ferrandino said of his colleague, Rep. Amy Stephens, a Republican from Monument.

Stephens, who is vying for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, sponsored a 2011 bill that set up the state’s healthcare exchange — a key pillar under the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. Dubbed by some as “AmyCare,” Stephens’ Republican challengers for Senate — which include Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and state Sens. Randy Baumgardner and Owen Hill — are certain to attack her for the sponsorship. Each hope to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in November.

Apparently most Colorado senators aren’t Ferris Bueller fans because a joke Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman told today that referred to the movie character fell flatter than a joke about a ham sandwich.

Cadman was talking about last year’s historic off-session where three senators lost their jobs because of gun votes, an education tax measure not a single Republican lawmaker supported got trounced by voters and more.

“Doesn’t it seem hard to believe that all that really happened since we adjourned? History made everyday in Colorado. The question is why? Anyone, anyone? Bueller?” Cadman asked.

A pair of lawmakers on Wednesday plan to announce the formation of a “Rural Caucus” — an effort, they say, to advance the interests of Coloradans who live outside the Front Range.

“As the state representative with the largest House district in land area, I understand issues facing my district and rural Colorado. Most state legislators reside in the Denver metro area and are not focused on rural issues,” said Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, who is a founding member of the caucus. “By creating a Rural Caucus, we will be uniting legislators across the state to stand together on issues unique to rural Colorado.”

Dore is forming the caucus alongside Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton.

“I grew up on a farm in Yuma County and some of my family still farms and ranches in Yuma County. The entire eastern part of Senate District 25 is rural. I’m thrilled that those constituents will have a place where their ideas, solutions, and thoughts can be discussed,” Hodge said in a statement.

The formation of the caucus comes at time when Republicans have assailed Democrats as waging a so-called “war on rural Colorado,” after the 2013 passage of gun-control bills and a electricity mandate on rural electric co-ops. Some counties in rural Colorado in November even voted to secede from the state.

The caucus, says Dore, hopes to help find consensus on legislation such as a bill that would lower the renewable energy mandate from 20 percent to 15 percent.

Colorado lawmakers returned to the state Capitol Wednesday as the 2014 legislative session kicked off. After a historic 2013 session that saw contentious battles over guns, renewable energy and elections laws, expect many of those topics to again be addressed this session.

Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, join Spot Live to discuss the session and how it might play out in an election year.

Talk about history NOT repeating itself: Democrat Morgan Carroll became the second woman to lead the Colorado Senate, but she did it without any Republican opposition.

In 2005, four Republicans voted against the nomination of Democrat Joan Fitz-Gerald, the first woman president of the Colorado Senate. Tradition calls for the entire minority party to vote for the person nominated by the majority party but that unwritten protocol was breached.

Carroll’s nomination was seconded by Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, although he earlier had expressed misgivings about her taking the top job in the Senate.

Here’s what happened in 2005:

By Lynn Bartels and Peggy Lowe
Rocky Mountain News

In a day filled with snow and show, Democrats on Wednesday took control of the Colorado legislature with pledges to fix the budget and get the state’s economy moving again.

But in ceremonies usually marked by pomp and good will, a leading Republican spoiled the party by trying to block the nomination of new Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald.

The Colorado legislature opens today with two gay lawmakers — House Speaker Mark Ferrandino and Senate President Pro Tem Lucia Guzman — leading their chambers.

It marks the first time that any state legislature has had two gays in the top spots in both chambers, Ferrandino said. He didn’t even realize the milestone until his staff pointed it out to him last year when Guzman took over in the Senate.

She has been been in charge since Senate President John Morse was recalled last year in September. Guzman will relinquish the gavel today when Democrat Morgan Carroll is expected to be elected president.

“We have a history of making history in Colorado,” Ferrandino said. “We had a state that used to be controlled by the Ku Klux Klan and we had the first two African-Americans leading the legislature. We had a state that was the ‘hate state’ and we’re the first state that has (gay lawmakers) leading the legislature.”

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.